COHASSET — Nov. 5, 2026 — Cohasset Select Board members on Thursday backed developing a town policy on surveillance and data protection, likely through a small working group, after Special Town Meeting postponed a citizens’ petition on the subject. The chair said the town’s Flock license-plate cameras are to be removed at the end of the contract this month.
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Surveillance policy. The discussion followed the Oct. 26 Special Town Meeting, where voters indefinitely postponed a citizens’ petition on surveillance technology oversight; it was neither adopted nor defeated on its merits. Board member William Ashton favored starting from the petition’s updated language.
Vice Chair Ellen Maher proposed a small working group including the police chief, someone from the town manager’s staff, someone from information technology, a Select Board member and possibly an Advisory Committee member, and suggested looking at other towns’ policies rather than starting from a 12-page bylaw. Maher said the schools have their own surveillance and safety policies and are a separate conversation. Other members said police, schools and residents should weigh in before any policy is set.
Chair David Farrag read prepared remarks described as that individual member’s view, not the board’s. Farrag said the police chief has committed to ending the town’s use of Flock automated license plate readers, with the cameras scheduled for removal in November at the end of the contract, and proposed that the Department of Public Works remove them if the company does not. He said there are no plans to replace them, and proposed a data and technology governance working group and public workshops leading to a town-wide policy, which could be updated faster than a bylaw.
Maher asked whether the cameras could be turned off or covered in the meantime. Town Manager Michelle Leary’s stated that bags could be placed over them, and said the company had asked the town not to remove them itself. Leary said the police chief would be consulted and report back at the next meeting. The chair said a working group and its charge would come back on a future agenda.
